Castsrv.exe executable file belongs to a malicious application that can accurately be recognized as a coin miner trojan. That malware type utilizes your PC components to mine cryptocurrencies, primarily – Monero or DarkCoin1. It makes your computer roughly nonfunctional as a result of high CPU usage.
What is Castsrv.exe process?
Castsrv.exe is a malicious process created by coin miner virus
As I have specified previously, Castsrv.exe is a coin miner virus. The names of the .exe file may be different, but the effects are generally the identical. Considering that coin miners focus on cryptocurrency mining, they use all available hardware capacity of your desktop to run this operation. This virus doesn’t care about the fact that you probably want to use your machine for other activities – it will always consume over 80% of your processor power.
Castsrv.exe – Really high CPU and GPU use
Besides CPU consumption, some of the coin miners additionally utilize GPU power for their tasks. In that situation, you will likely struggle also to see the mouse cursor moving – GPU is usually used on 100%. It is not as critical as CPU for system work, so Castsrv.exe coin miner viruses do not waste time on trifles and utilize all of it. It often may result in sad results.
Shortly about cryptocurrency mining
Cryptocurrency mining term means the action of calculating the transaction block hash. That is a integral element of any project based on the blockchain technology. Since this action takes a lot of calculations, a very strong desktop is required. Exactly, the video card is better for this task, because they have more cores available. Cryptomining farms are usually constructed of tens and hundreds of video cards to conduct their activity effectively. Such computer systems are not usable for “classic” purposes, like gaming or browsing the Web. Fraudsters who gain money via this coin miner use someones’ computers instead, even if they are used for the regular activity.2
List of the typical coin miner symptoms
How dangerous is the Castsrv.exe miner?
Coin miners does not deal damage to your files. However, they make a lot of unpleasant things with the whole system
First of all, Castsrv.exe malware makes your PC overloaded. It is unable to run your applications anymore, because all processor power is consumed by a malware. That malware does not care for your necessities, all it pays attention to is making money on you. Even if you are patient, and you waited until web browser is open, you will likely suffer from incredibly slow performance. Pages will open for years, any kind of logins will likely take about a minute – just a horror story for a person who does a job online.
Castsrv.exe Technical Summary.
| File Name | Castsrv.exe |
| Type | Trojan Coin Miner |
| Detection Name | Trojan:Win32/CoinMiner |
| Distribution Method | Software bundling, Intrusive advertisement, redirects to shady sites etc. |
| Similar behavior | Cacls.exe, Calc.exe, Baldi.exe |
| Removal | Download and install GridinSoft Anti-Malware for automatic Castsrv.exe removal. |
“Visible” damage is not a solitary unpleasant activity coin miners perform to your computer. Castsrv.exe coin miner likewise deals damage to your operating system. To carry out all malevolent operations successfully, it wrecks the protection mechanisms of your system. You will likely see your Microsoft Defender disabled – malware stops it to prevent recognition. If you open the HOSTS file, you will likely see a ton of new entries – they are added by this coin miner to connect your system to a malicious mining network. All these adjustments are about to be gone back to the original in the process of PC recovery.
Hardware effects of coin miner activity
Besides decreasing your PC’s performance, performing at peak level for long times may cause damage to your machine and raise electricity bills. Hardware elements are created to easily get along with high load, but they can do so only when they are in a good shape.
Tiny and well-protected CPU fan is quite hard to broke. Meanwhile, GPUs have large and easy-to-access fans, which can be easily broke if touched while running, for example, by the user much earlier before the malware injection. Malfunctioning cooling system, together with the unusually high load caused by Castsrv.exe malware can easily lead to graphic card failure3. Video cards are also tend to have very fast wearing when used for crypto mining. It is likely an undesirable case when the performance of your graphic card plunges 20-30% just after 1-2 weeks of being exploited in such a way.
How did I get Castsrv.exe coin miner virus?
Coin miners are spread through different ways, but their main sources are malicious banners and programs from dubious sources
Coin miners are the most common malicious programs among “serious” malware. Adware often acts as a carrier for Castsrv.exe malware injection: it shows you the banners, which have a link to malware downloading. Sure, this abstract “malware” can belong to any type – another adware, spyware, rogue or backdoor. But the statistics say that approximately 30% of all malware spread through the malicious banners are coin miners – and Castsrv.exe is right one of them.
The example of malicious banners you can see in the Internet
Another way you could get this thing on your computer is by downloading it from the dubious site as a part of a program. People that spread hacked versions of popular programs (which do not need the license key) have small chances to get paid. Thus, there is a very big lure to include malware to the final package of the hacked app and receive a coin for each setup. Before criticizing these guys for hacking and also malware spreading, ask yourself – is it okay to avoid paying for the program in this manner? It is much cheaper to pay $20-$30 at once than to pay a much greater sum for antivirus program and new parts for your desktop.
How to remove the Castsrv.exe miner from my PC?
The best way to get rid of this coin miner virus is to use anti-malware software
Removing such a virus involves using special app. Proper antivirus must have high performance at scanning and be lightweight – in order to make no problems with utilization even on weak PCs. On top of that, it is recommended to have on-run security in your protection tool – to stop the virus even before it launches. Microsoft Defender does not have these features for various factors. That’s why I’d suggest you to use a third-party anti-malware program for that purpose. GridinSoft Anti-Malware is a perfect choice that fits each of the specified qualities.4
Prior to the virus removal, it is important to reboot your Windows into Safe Mode with Networking. Since Castsrv.exe miner consumes a lot of CPU capacity, it is needed to stop it before launching the security program. Otherwise, your scan will last for years, even though the GridinSoft program is pretty lightweight.
Booting the PC into Safe Mode with Networking
Press the Start button, then choose Power, and click on Reboot while holding the Shift key on the keyboard.
Windows will reboot into recovery mode. In that mode, choose Troubleshoot→ Startup Settings→ Safe Mode with Networking. Press the corresponding button on your keyboard to choose that option.
When your PC is in Safe Mode, all third-party apps, along with the majority of non-critical system components, are not started with the system start. That gives you the ability to clean the system without dealing with high processor usage of the coin miner.
Remove Castsrv.exe coin miner virus with GridinSoft Anti-Malware
Download and install GridinSoft Anti-Malware. You can use this anti-malware program for free during its 6-day trial period. In that term, all functions are available, and it takes no payments to remove malware from your system.
After activating your free trial, start Full scan. It may last up to 10 minutes. You may use the PC as usual.
When the scan is finished, press the Clean Now button to remove all detected elements from your system. This procedure takes less than a minute.
Now, you are good to go. Reboot your PC into a normal Windows mode and use just as there was nothing malicious.
Remove Castsrv.exe Virus ⛏️ Trojan Coin Miner
Name: Castsrv.exe
Description: The Castsrv.exe is a Trojan Coin Miner that uses the infected computer’s sources to mine electronic money without your authorization. This Castsrv.exe will create your CPU to go for very warm temperatures for prolonged periods of time, which could reduce the life of the CPU.
Operating System: Windows
Application Category: Trojan
User Review
( votes)References
- Read about why Monero and DarkCoin are so popular amongst cybercriminals.
- Detailed explanation of how does cryptomining work.
- About unwanted effects for GPUs in the process of cryptomining.
- Our review on GridinSoft Anti-Malware.
